There are so ways “Aliens in America” could have gone completely, totally wrong that it’s a minor miracle that the new comedy is so sweet and appealing.

The series, which premieres at 8:30 p.m. Monday (Ch. 44), takes place in the Midwestern suburban world of Justin Tolchuck (Dan Byrd of “Any Day Now”), a cool-challenged high school outsider. To make matters worse, his older sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw of “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”) is one of the most popular girls at school.

His mother Franny (a delightfully daffy Amy Pietz from “Caroline in the City”) decides her son needs a friend – so she imports a foreign exchange student, believing she’s getting a teenager from Sweden.

The twist: The exchange student turns out to be Raja (newcomer Adhir Kalayan), a Muslim Pakistani kid. If anything, Raja’s arrival makes Justin even more of an outsider, although the newcomer ultimately wins over the Tolchucks, including dad Gary (Scott Patterson of “Gilmore Girls”).

Somehow, “Aliens” avoids being either broadly stereotypical or painfully politically correct. At least in Monday’s opening episode, it is a classic fish-out-of-water comedy that shows a deft touch as it delves into adolescent anxieties and intercultural fears and misunderstandings. There are honest emotions and honestly earned laughs throughout the first half hour.

(Think a post-Sept. 11 “Wonder Years,” with a little more edge.)

With “Aliens,” the CW has finally found a show that is compatible – in tone and potentially in quality – to its marvelous “Everybody Hates Chris” (8 p.m. Monday, Ch. 44). Good, perceptive family comedies are hard to come by these days, and here are two of them back-to-back.

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• Among television critics, “Big Shots” (10 tonight, Ch. 7) may be the single most divisive new series of the season. Many positively loath this comedy-drama about four business tycoons with big-time women problems. (The Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan – a writer I admire greatly – calls it “ugly, misogynistic.”)

Then there are a few of us who think, while not perfect, “Shots” has some potential. The leads – Michael Vartan (“Alias”), Dylan McDermott (“The Practice”), Joshua Malina (“The West Wing”), Christopher Titus (“Titus”) – have chemistry, and there are some funny lines and situations. One plus in the long run: Rob Thomas, the terrific writer from “Veronica Mars,” has signed on to do some of the writing on the series.

• Chances are good that when tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s Bay Area dates go on the sale, they’ll be gone in about 10 minutes. But you can catch Springsteen, and the E Street Band, on “The Today Show” (7 a.m. Friday, Chs. 8, 11) performing from New York’s Rockefeller Plaza. While most of “Today’s” musical segments are pretty lame, Springsteen ripped it up when he last appeared five years ago.

• The pilot of the new “Moonlight” (9 p.m. Friday, Chs. 5, 46) was completely overhauled, so TV writers didn’t get to see a real episode of this vampire-with-a-soul series until just recently. I could have waited a little longer. “Moonlight” tries to be a cross between “Angel” and the world of Raymond Chandler, but at least in the first couple of episodes, it’s just sort of an underwritten mess. You may want to check it out, though, for the appealing performance of Alex O’Loughlin as vampire-private eye Mick St. John. He’s a real keeper.

• ABC’s soapy Sundays return this weekend as “Desperate Housewives” launches its fourth season and “Brothers & Sisters” slides into Season 2. The “Housewives” opener, written by creator Marc Cherry, does a sharp job of bringing viewers up to speed on Wisteria Lane happenings, including Edie’s apparent suicide, and introduces Dana Delany as the newest wife in the ‘hood. “Brothers,” which came out of nowhere to become last season’s guilty pleasure, revolves around another disastrous Walker family dinner, hitting the restart button with considerable flair.

• In the midst of all the network debuts and returns, Showtime is rolling out two dramas trying to follow up on strong freshman seasons. Both “Dexter” (9 p.m. Sunday) – the creepy show about a Miami forensic investigator who moonlights as a serial killer – and “Brotherhood” (10 p.m. Sunday) – mob life in Providence, R.I. – get off to very fast starts in their opening episodes. Crank up the DVR.

Station break

Starting next week, the Thursday edition of this column will appear in the Eye section.

"I fully support the principles behind Senate Bill 1: to defeat efforts by the president and Congress to undermine vital federal protections that protect clean air, clean water and endangered species," Newsom said in a written statement.